Vibrationally promoted emission of electrons from low work function surfaces: Oxygen and Cs surface coverage dependence
نویسندگان
چکیده
We observe electron emission from low work function Cs covered Au surfaces due to the scattering of vibrationally excited NO molecules with 18 quanta of vibration in the ground electronic state. Additional experiments explore the influence of oxygen exposure on the electron emission. These results indicate a nondissociative mechanism for reactivity of vibrationally excited NO on these surfaces and provide evidence against an Auger-like mechanism. We note a remarkable similarity between trends of the vibrationally produced electron emission as the surface composition changes and reports on surface work function. © 2005 American Vacuum Society. DOI: 10.1116/1.1861942
منابع مشابه
Vibrationally promoted electron emission from low work-function metal surfaces.
We observe electron emission when vibrationally excited NO molecules with vibrational state v, in the range of 9 < or = v < or =18, are scattered from a Cs-dosed Au surface. The quantum efficiency increases strongly with v, increasing up to 10(-2) electrons per NO (v) collision, a value several orders of magnitude larger than that observed in experiments with similar molecules in the ground vib...
متن کاملInverse velocity dependence of vibrationally promoted electron emission from a metal surface.
All previous experimental and theoretical studies of molecular interactions at metal surfaces show that electronically nonadiabatic influences increase with molecular velocity. We report the observation of a nonadiabatic electronic effect that follows the opposite trend: The probability of electron emission from a low-work function surface--Au(111) capped by half a monolayer of Cs--increases as...
متن کاملThe work function of submonolayer cesium-covered gold: a photoelectron spectroscopy study.
Using visible and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, we measured the work function of a Au(111) surface at a well-defined submonolayer coverage of Cs. For a Cs coverage producing a photoemission maximum with a He-Ne laser, the work function is 1.61+/-0.08 eV, consistent with previous assumptions used to analyze vibrationally promoted electron emission. A discussion of possible Cs layer structure...
متن کاملSecondary electron emission spectra from clean and cesiated Al surfaces: the role of plasmon decay and data analysis for applications.
We report measurements of energy spectra of secondary electrons emitted from clean and cesiated aluminum surfaces under the impact of 130 eV electrons. Measurements show that the decay of bulk and surface plasmons dominates the electron emission. In contrast with theoretical calculations, our experiments indicate that the electron collision cascade inside the solid produced by electrons excited...
متن کاملVibrationally promoted electron emission at a metal surface: electron kinetic energy distributions.
We report the first direct measurement of the kinetic energy of exoelectrons produced by collisions of vibrationally excited molecules with a low work function metal surface exhibiting electron excitations of 64% (most probable) and 95% (maximum) of the initial vibrational energy. This remarkable efficiency for vibrational-to-electronic energy transfer is in good agreement with previous results...
متن کامل